Greyhounds run past No. 3 nationally-ranked Warriors

Wednesday

Feb 20, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Chuck Embree, MI Sports Reporter

Clinging to a 4-point lead with more than 14 minutes left to play, the Moberly Greyhounds ran No. 3 nationally-ranked Indian Hills Community College out of the Fitzsimmons-John Arena Tuesday, and sent the Warriors of Ottumwa, Ia. home with an 84-64 loss.

“I thought Indian Hills got a little bit tired running with us. I credit our conditioning factor had something to do with that,” said Moberly Area Community College men’s coach Patrick Smith. “I thought TJ White made some huge defensive plays for us, and the unsung hero for us in this game probably was Rayshawn Simmons. I thought he just played super against their pressure, making great decisions while playing 30-plus minutes.”

“Mike Anderson and Brennen Hughes both stand out in this game with their scoring and all, and Brennen is really playing some outstanding basketball right now.”

Anderson, a 6’5 sophomore from Hartford, Conn., lit up the nets in the second half. This is where he scored 20 of his game-high 22 points including three 3s and had 11 rebounds for the Greyhounds (22-7).

Meanwhile, Moberly High School graduate standout Brennen Hughes threw down a couple of slams while scoring 10 of his 16 points in the second half as well.

The 6’5 freshman played his final regular season home game before a large Moberly crowd, and coach Smith after the game said Hughes plans to take his gifted talent to play at Central Missouri State University at Warrensburg next fall.

“This was a huge win for us. It’s not just because Indian Hills is nationally ranked, but because we had a chip on our shoulder for losing like we did at their place a month ago (94-81 loss on Jan. 29),” said Anderson, who continues to consider offers to play basketball at the next level. “This being our last home game and all, we wanted to come out and give it our best game. Winning this one was important to us.”

While Indian Hills (26-3) arrived to Moberly being short-handed due to suspensions, MACC men’s coach Patrick Smith said the Warriors remained a dangerous team having good player depth.

Indian Hills was without the services of head coach Barret Peery along with players Ronald Ross (15 ppg), Richard Amardi (8 ppg), Dustin Hogue (12 ppg), Ronnie Stevens (5 ppg) and Rawane Ndiaye (3 ppg) were all suspended for last night’s game as punishment for their roles in Saturday night’s postgame brawl at Southeastern Iowa of West Burlington. Warriors assistant coach John Wardenburg took over the reigns for Peery.

“Before our game I learned they were going to be without some of their players, but they still have a lot of talent,” said coach Smith. “They have a kid scoring in the lane on us that’s going to UNLV and another one going to Marquette. That’s two good (NCAA) Division I programs.”

The Greyhounds led by as many as 17 points in the first half before settling with a 38-30 advantage by intermission.

Indian Hills chipped away at its deficit and got as close as 46-42 following a Trinson White fade-away 3 with 14:31 remaining to be played.

Coach Smith immediately called a time out to disrupt the Warriors’ rhythm and strengthen the Greyhounds focus.

“I knew they were going to make a run on us and we did a good job in the second half when they cut it to 4 by us withstanding that, continuing to play,” said coach Smith. “All of a sudden our shots were going down and we got on a roll. Mike Anderson did a great job of finishing the game for us. This was a great win for us.”

When play resumed Moberly scored four unanswered points and Indian Hills would not get any closer.

MACC soon thereafter put together an impressive 13-0 run that included slams by both Anderson and Hughes. The spurt was capped by an open 3 dropped in by freshman Evan Singletary with 5 minutes left delivering the Greyhounds a healthy 71-54 lead to close out the game strong.

“I thought we rebounded better this time and our transition game was going well,” said Anderson. “Defensively we forced a lot of turnovers, and we got some stops several times in a row in the second half that allowed us to extend the score to a comfortable lead on them.”

Moberly Greyhounds will wrap up their regular season Saturday when they compete at Region 16 rival Missouri State - West Plains.----- ----- -----NOTE: Tuesday’s home game at MACC also served as Sophomore Night for the men’s basketball team. After the game Greyhounds coach Patrick Smith recognized the following players; Trent Washington of Waterloo, Ia., TJ White of Kansas City, Kwai Pearson of Chicago, Zeke Williams of Atlanta, Ga., Mike Anderson of Hartford, Conn. and Mike Luscombe of Boonville.

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